If posts coming from the White House were to be believed, the US-Israel war on Iran looks something like scenes from Top Gun, Braveheart and Deadpool – or how a fifth-grade boy might imagine combat. The Trump administration has also presented Operation Epic Fury as a video game, borrowing gen Z parlance to describe the US armed forces as “locked in” on the conflict.

Such macho posturing squares with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth’s desire to bring “warrior culture” back to the military. The former Fox News host has railed against DEI, “fat troops” and “beardos” (troops with beards), and envisioned a military full of “the right people” who fit his imposed standards of virility and masculinity.

But a look beyond official channels indicates that at least some service members active on TikTok – a subset of an online space known as #MilitaryTok – are not channeling Trump and his administration’s warrior mentality. Instead, their posts convey vulnerability, anxiety, and in many cases, snark over the prospect of shipping out to the Middle East.